To You, Two Thousand Years From Now
by TFAMadeMeDoIt
Summary: Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past. If you do not learn from the past, are you destined to repeat it?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First story, new author, blah blah blah. Been reading a lot of RWBY fan fiction here and thought I'd give it a go, since I finally mustered up enough of whatever to watch volume 4 after the V3 finale. Recently caught up on the Attack on Titan manga too, so that'll explain the inspiration for this story. Sorry for all the scene changes, just sweeping over events that won't change much. Let me know how I'm doing so I can suck less.**

* * *

 _Legends._

 _Stories scattered through time._

 _Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past._

* * *

Ruby Rose sat alone in a dark interrogation room, humming to herself nervously. She had been waiting for what felt like an eternity, trapped alone with her thoughts.

Her first and loudest thought was about why she was even here. Mentally going through everything she had done that day, before the dust shop incident, and she was sure she wasn't in trouble... unless a visit to the bakery and some window shopping was illegal now.

A quick, icy worry gripped her heart even as she realized how dumb that sounded.

Of course, she could always be in trouble for trying to stop the robbery. Sometimes it happened to heroes in her comics, when a hero would be unjustly accused of aiding a criminal or of interfering in a police investigation. It all got resolved in the end though. And if Remnant worked like that, she was pretty sure she'd hear more distaste of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Especially when she went anywhere with her dad or Uncle Qrow.

Especially Uncle Qrow.

It was with this thought that she heard the door click, and the blonde, librarian-looking Huntress she met earlier walked in. Ruby tried to put on her best smile.

Surely she wasn't in trouble, right?

* * *

Ozpin leaned back in his chair with a slight smile and another sip of his coffee. Glynda was still staring at him in disapproval, he knew, so his drink lasted a little longer than it would have otherwise.

The interrogation room remained nearly silent as the door to the room continued its slow drift shut, gently dragging rose petals across the floor. Once it clicked shut, Glynda broke the silence.

"She's too young for this."

Finally removing his lips from the cup, he sighed. "Glynda… she has silver eyes. The earlier she starts training for the real world, the more likely she will survive all of this."

"That's _exactly_ why she shouldn't be anywhere near here, Ozpin. You've seen Qrow's latest messages, just as I have. Our enemies aren't going to risk letting their objective go a third time." Glynda circled around the table, ending next to the Headmaster with a hand on his shoulder. "If the girl's remained undiscovered on Patch for this long, she should remain there as long as she can. We may need her there if the worst happens."

She turned and began her walk out, before realizing Ozpin had her hand pinned to his shoulder with his own. Turning back, she met his eyes staring into hers.

"I wish that were the case, Glynda. But we have other factors to consider. Factors that will undoubtedly have her come into contact with our enemies, due to their searching for her…" He set his cup down onto the table, next to a crumb-covered empty plate. "... Or _her_ searching for _them_. Believe me, I don't want to have to tell Tai about potentially endangering both of his daughters, but I believe we will all regret it if I don't."

Releasing Glynda's hand, Ozpin rose from his seat and made to follow her out, only to meet her stern, teacher stare.

"Forgetting something, Headmaster?"

With the heaviest sigh made in the room yet, Ozpin turned and retrieved the plate and cup before following Glynda out the door.

* * *

Ruby was enjoying the wind battering against her face. She normally wouldn't, and probably shouldn't, but was it her fault things were just more enjoyable now?

"Heheh… Nope."

Paying for her subconscious self-answering with a bug down her throat, she hacked a few coughs before giving up and settled on being disgusted with herself. But not too disgusted. After all… She was at Beacon now! She was a Huntress in training! No amount of bugs swallowed could get her to feel too bad at herself now! Well, maybe there was a number, but not one she ever wanted to find out.

Ruby angled her body against the wind, Crescent Rose gripped tightly in her hands. The wind was whipping at her combat skirt and hair, but she couldn't hear it. She was too busy deciding on a target. After all, she'd need a good, thick tree to try her landing strategy on. She'd first concocted this particular one while day dreaming at Signal, and even had a doodle in her old notebook that outlined her steps. Not that it helped her where she was now. Mid-air, and less than a few couple dozen feet above the treeline. The speed she was fine with, thanks to her semblance, but not everyone had that little advantage. A far-off continuous yell attested to that.

"No… No… No… Yes!"

Slinging Crescent Rose around in its rifle form, she fired a few shots in her target's general direction to slow down, before quickly extending it into scythe form to spin and bleed her velocity on her target, a thick tree branch.

Landing on her feet and taking off in a run, she started her search for the partner she'd share the next four years at Beacon with.

* * *

Sometimes Jaune thought the universe was using him as a joke.

Before he'd decided to become a Huntsman, all he ever did was spend time with friends and family. Working around the house, sure, but not many hobbies held his interest long. So whenever someone asked if he was busy, his go-to answer was usually "Nah, just hanging around. What're we doing?"

When he'd made up his mind to be a Huntsman, and finally told his sisters and parents, he'd expected congratulations or support of some kind. Instead, he got a few laughs from his sisters, a grunt from his dad, and a distracted smile from his mom while she read from her scroll. When he'd asked his dad later to train him, his dad chuckled. Actually _chuckled_ at the idea of Jaune being serious for once. He swore to himself that day that he'd work his ass off, and dedicate his efforts to becoming a Huntsman. He would never "just hang around" again!

Which he currently found himself doing. Suspended dozens of feet in the air by an admittedly neat-looking javelin pinning him to a tree. He was literally "just hanging around."

Gratitude for whoever threw the spear aside, couldn't they have thrown a parachute or something at him instead?

Hearing some crunching branches nearby, he looked down to see Weiss, his current target of love, making her way through some bushes. Nervously laughing with renewed hope that the universe was a fair place, he got her attention and waved.

Then she sighed and walked back the way she came. The universe was a joker for sure.

Dropping his hand and head, he looked down, and noticed the bronze-clad warrior he met that morning coming from the other side of his tree. It didn't take her long to notice him, at which point she crossed her arms and gave a friendly smile, though he could swear there was a little smirk in it as well.

"Jaune, correct? I don't suppose you have any more spots on your team, do you?"

"Very funny…" He huffed a little, before a smile came through anyway.

Maybe the universe wasn't so bad after all.

"By the way, Jaune, if you are through with it, could you hand my spear back?"

* * *

One embarrassing fall and a lesson on Aura later, Jaune and Pyrrha stood outside a dark cave, inspecting some drawings on the wall outside. Jaune couldn't really see what the drawings were supposed to tell, it just looked like people... eating... smaller people...?

Nah, he was just seeing it wrong.

"Is this it?" He looked over to Pyrrha, getting a slight shrug in answer.

Grabbing a suitable-looking fallen branch, Jaune used some flint from his belt to ignite it, and make a temporary torch before leading his partner inside.

Not a few dozen feet into the cave, Pyrrha spoke up. "I really don't think this is it."

Jaune looked back at her briefly and sighed. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for maybe... five more feet?"

In another universal joke, he tripped and fell on his face well within five feet, and the torch winked out with a splash from a nearby puddle.

"Do you... feel that?" Jaune had been too thankful that she didn't offer him help to stand to notice, but now that she mentioned it...

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No, it's... warm."

"Ah. Forget what I said."

He bent over, feeling around the cave floor for their dropped torch, hoping that there was some part of it dry enough to light. Shuffling his feet around he quickly found the puddle, and was rewarded for it.

With a half-wet torch and completely wet shoes.

"Found it, Pyrrha." Retrieving his flint, he went to work.

"Let there be... light!" He said, only after his success. He'd had enough embarrassment today, thank you.

Pyrrha gasped as he did so, and he heard her draw her weapons. He started to reach for his own, and was halfway there before he realized his sword hand currently held their only light source.

"Pyrrha, what's-?" He started, facing her. She was staring intensely, weapons in his direction. But that wasn't what worried him.

She was staring at a spot behind him. With surprise and fear evident on her face for a brief moment, before her face clamped down into one hardened for battle, and her stance lowered.

"Jaune, behind me." She hissed, and it didn't take him long to do so. Once he was, he saw what had elicited the reaction from her.

What looked like a human stood twice his height, leaning against the wall of the cave further inside. It wasn't moving, but its head was facing them, and he could swear it was staring intently.

"Wha-" Jaune's mouth failed him, drying as he spoke. Wetting his tongue, he tried again. "What the hell is that?!"

Pyrrha shushed him, eyes still on the thing. "I-I don't know. Do any faunus get that big?" She breathed, already knowing the answer.

They didn't.

"I don't know which is scarier, Pyrrha, that whatever that thing is looks human but isn't, or that there's a naked faunus twice my size lounging in caves around Vale." She glanced at him, a little worried he was making jokes in such a situation, but she was as relieved as she could be that he was completely serious. In a normal situation, Pyrrha would have even blushed and giggled at that, but this was decidedly not the time.

"We need to leave and tell someone about this."

"Agreed." Pyrrha began to back up slightly, and Jaune helped her slowly navigate out of sight of the thing. She relaxed a little at that, which made the rest of their walk to the cave entrance quicker, but kept her weapons drawn.

Once more outside in the fresh air of the Emerald Forest, Jaune almost couldn't believe their encounter had happened. The grass was still green, birds were singing, the air carried a light breeze and the sound of weapons fire in the distance. Normal Remnant things.

"We should probably get back to looking for our relic." Pyrrha said softly. "We can tell the Headmaster what we found afterwards. I'm not sure it could move at all, if it was unwilling to follow us as we left."

"Yeah... sounds good to me. Maybe we should follow you this time." He gave a half effort at a laugh, and was glad to see a small smile return to Pyrrha's face as she took her bearings and began their march to the sound of the fight in the distance.

* * *

Ruby had no idea what she was looking at. It could have been the figurative Nevermores flying around her head after she crashed into the open arms of her sister that were affecting her sight. Or perhaps the adrenaline from not only riding, but jumping from the giant Nevermore that she and Weiss had tried to use to reach the ruins. Either could maybe explain what she was seeing, but from the way Yang and her black-motif'ed partner were watching the same thing she was made her doubt it.

Far above them, Weiss could be heard screaming. Mostly incomprehensible shrieks, but some seemed really pointed towards Ruby. Which was weird, because it wasn't like this was her fault.

How would she know that this giant Nevermore flew so erratically? It had seemed fine before they hitched a ride. It was only after Ruby jumped, that the Nevermore began alternating between flying normally and upside down, changing directions every once in a while quickly and with seemingly no reason behind it. Through all of that, Weiss kept her grip, and the three girls at the ruins just watched the white speck bounce up and down at the Nevermore's leisure.

"Huh." Yang observed the spectacle for a bit longer, hand questioningly stroking her chin. "Didn't peg Weiss for a thrill-seeker."

"I, uh... don't think she is." Ruby spoke quietly, her eyes already getting tired from following the Nevermore.

Blake had a small smile on her features the first minute or so, but now approaching the three minute mark, seemed to get bored. "Why doesn't she just let go? It's not as high up now."

Ruby and Yang shrugged, and Weiss' screams got louder as the Nevermore apparently decided the same thing, and began a high ascension into the sky. Just before reaching one of the clouds dotting the sky, it flipped end over end and began a dive to the forest below. Beyond the point the three girls would have expected, it flattened its flight, and performed what could only be called a flyby past the ruins, Weiss' screams giving the Nevermore a more satisfying sound effect than it was used to.

Turning to fly past the ruins again, the Nevermore coughed a few times. Ruby almost thought it sounded like chuckling. Well, for a giant bird.

"We should probably help her." Blake said, surprising the sisters. At their look, she sighed. "She's your partner, Ruby. I don't think any of us would be welcomed into Beacon if we just watched her fly off with a Nevermore."

Ruby looked down and kicked at a stone, muttering about maybe being given a new partner, but drawing Crescent Rose all the same. Yang began bouncing on her feet, fists in a fighting stance and a wide smile on her face. "Alright, Rubes, what's the plan?"

"Well, ahhh..." Ruby extended her weapon into its sniper position. "Shoot it until Weiss jumps off?"

Now it was Yang's turn to kick at a nearby stone, mumbling about how aiming was for the birds.

Blake managed to hear it and shook her head in distaste, but drew Gambol Shroud and joined Ruby in taking aim at the flying Grimm.

They began firing at the Grimm's face, trying to avoid body shots lest they hit Weiss. Their rounds didn't appear to do much damage, but definitely attracted its attention. Beginning a lazy turn back over the ruins, it slowed to perch atop one of the arches near the canyon wall. Weiss, having stopped screaming entirely, managed to release her white-knuckled hold onto its feathers, and ran into the nearest treeline shakily and not in a straight line in any sense of the word. Ruby and Blake stopped their fire to make their way protectively over to Weiss, as vomiting noises began to come from the bushes. Yang stood where she was, just waiting for a good time to make a charge.

"Oh wow, Ren! That thing's huge!" A singsong voice shattered the mood, as two more initiates entered the clearing.

"Nora..." Ren warned, his attention on the Grimm.

"It looks like it could split me in two! Well, not me, personally, more like me-anybody-else me, but you know what I mean. I'm flexible!"

Ren didn't even answer this time, drawing his weapons and nodding at Yang as he joined her. "Any plan?"

"Not presently, Medium-Well."

Ren sighed and took a battle stance.

The Nevermore watched them all, silent and unnerving. That is, until Weiss returned to the clearing with her weapon drawn and murder in her eyes.

That was when it began that harsh, coughing laugh again.

Ruby must not have been alone in that interpretation, as Weiss growled and drew her weapon, forming a glyph to attempt freezing the bird to the ruins. To their astonishment, the Grimm was already in flight, and began a slow circle around the mountain on the other side of the small canyon ruins.

The group stood, ready and waiting for the Nevermore to peek back into view before they opened fire.

...

Any minute now...

"Hey, uh, what're you all doing?" They glanced back to see Jaune and Pyrrha standing hesitantly by the treeline.

"Jaune! Oh, there's a huge Nevermore behind that mountain! We're waiting for it to attack!" Ruby squeaked, her sniper rifle starting to get heavy in her hands as she kept the sight up.

He looked around and saw the rest of the Huntresses and Huntsman in a serious way, all besides one that looked and waved at him with an infectious enthusiasm and wide grin, so he shrugged and followed Pyrrha to the relic stands.

After another minute, the group gave up, and just looked at each other questioningly before going to join the latecomers that were currently sitting and chatting on a stone block. Noticing the others coming dejectedly, Jaune said something he'd regret later. "So... giant Nevermore, huh?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Blame NA Fate/Grand Order server timer for this.**

* * *

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie."

Jaune could barely hear the Headmaster call their names from the stage, his heartbeat was deafening. He even thought he was sweating a bit. Luckily he managed to follow his peers, and copied their stance when they arrived before Ozpin.

"The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Juniper."

Nora couldn't restrain herself long, and smothered Ren in her arms before the Headmaster could finish.

"Led by… Jaune Arc."

His knees began to lose whatever function they had managed.

"L-led by?" He muttered to himself, not quite believing his ears.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin spoke conversationally, a small smile reaching his face.

Still too shocked to make sense of what was happening around him, Jaune was oblivious to Pyrrha's good-natured grin and approaching fist that landed him on his backside.

That was enough to remind him that they were still in a ceremony, as he accepted Pyrrha's help up, and the tinkle of her voice excitedly whispering an apology.

He and his team exited the stage as Ozpin called their friends from initiation.

"Congratulations, Jaune." Ren spoke low when they had clustered back together to face the stage.

"Ah… Thanks…" The crowd began clapping at the announcement of team RWBY. Nora more excitedly than them all. But his happiness at seeing his friend Ruby as a team leader was overshadowed by the guilt of getting his own position.

Ozpin must've made a mistake. There was no way that he, Jaune Arc, could be the leader of a team. Maybe it was a test? Was Ozpin trying to see how far Jaune would endanger his peers before admitting his secret? In that case, did he know already?

A gloved hand on his shoulder shook the thoughts away. Standing in front of him, Pyrrha's radiant green eyes stared into his own.

"I think you have the potential to be a fine leader, Jaune. And you will have my support."

"Mine as well." Ren nodded.

"You will be the best leader of the best team in Beacon! Ever!" Nora screeched, and the other first years began to give JNPR a wider berth as they began exiting the auditorium.

Faith… maybe he could do it. Surely he could become at least a half-decent leader with the help of his teammates. He could believe in them.

"Thanks everyone… I'll do my best for all of you."

Pyrrha's answering grin evaporated whatever feelings of doubt he had at the moment. Her subsequent blush and removal of her hand from his shoulder made him wonder for a moment, but only for a moment, as a speeding projectile hit him from the side and wrapped its arms around him.

"Jaune! Did you see?! We're both team leaders now!" Ruby's chattering increased in speed as he tried to listen, eventually losing all trace of what she wa saying. Her arms remained locked around him as he mentally thanked Pyrrha for unlocking his Aura. Without it, he was sure to have had some bruised ribs.

"Yeah, I did, congrats Ruby!" He looked at the rest of her team approaching, and made eyes at Yang begging for help. Her only answers was a one-sided smile and a shrug.

"andIreallythinkwecouldhavetakenthatNevermoreyoushouldhaveseenit,itwasabsolutelyhuge-"

Ruby's high-pitched stream of consciousness was interrupted by an interrupting cough just outside the group.

Ozpin stood with his cane, one hand up covering his mouth as he eyed the students.

"A giant Nevermore, you say?"

* * *

Ruby and Jaune finished their report to Ozpin on the Nevermore in his office. Ruby handled nearly the entire conversation, her having been in the part of their group that had seen it at all. At times she wasn't sure if the Headmaster was even listening, as he was spending the whole time staring out his wall of windows in the direction of the Emerald Forest.

"... And then it didn't come back around the mountain. That was the last we saw of it. I've never heard of a Grimm retreating from battle before, so we were all shocked that it left without even attacking us."

With this, silence creeped over the room, and Jaune shifted nervously on his feet.

"Ms. Rose… You are correct. Normal Grimm do not turn back from human threats. The only ones recorded to do so… are intelligent Grimm."

Jaune and Ruby glanced between each other briefly, looking for comfort in each other's shocked expressions.

"Sir, are you- are you saying that thing could think?" Jaune breathed. This was big. One of the few edges humanity had against the Grimm was their mindless, aggressive nature that could be relied upon and exploited. If Grimm started to be able to plan… Things would be much worse.

"I am saying, Mr. Arc, that based upon what Ms. Rose and others in your teams have observed, this particular Nevermore lacked whatever drives Grimm to hunt humanity." He took another short sip from his cup. "And what of you, Mr. Arc? Did you see this peculiar Grimm?"

He knew it had been coming, but looked down at the floor all the same.

"I… ah… No, I didn't, sir. Me and Pyrrha were the last ones to arrive at the ruins."

Ozpin slowly returned to his desk, refilling his cup of coffee from a fresh pot waiting there. He sat quietly into his chair, and took a long drink as the two team leaders waited for him to say something.

"I will ask that the two of you and your teams remain quiet on this matter. Do not mention this Grimm to any peers, only to myself or Ms. Goodwitch if necessary. Beacon will handle this."

Jaune and Ruby nodded, before Ozpin continued. "Ms. Rose, if I could have a word with Mr. Arc alone for a moment?"

"Sure thing, see you tomorrow Jaune!'

She gave Jaune a reassuring look before crossing the room and leaving via the elevator.

As the elevator door shut and the slight hum of the machinery indicated she was on her way down, Ozpin gave Jaune a long, blank stare.

Jaune had experienced plenty of stares in his life, but he never expected one without emotion to affect him more than an angry sister or parent's.

"Mr. Arc… May I call you Jaune?"

Jaune straightened a little and gave a slight nod, feeling every drop of sweat slide down his back and sides.

"If I may ask Jaune, where are you from again?"

This couldn't be happening. He hardly lasted a day. He could only stand in silence for what felt like hours as he waited for the end. He couldn't even look Ozpin in the face.

"I know that Mistral in particular has a lighter view of such things, so Pyrrha may have been the initiator…"

What did that mean? What the hell?

His confusion must have been evident all over his face, but Ozpin didn't address it. He was too busy looking at anywhere in the room but Jaune.

"... but now that you are the leader of JNPR, such dalliances may cause undue problems in the future for your team, as well as how others view it."

Did he… Was he really suggesting that? Jaune first felt excitement and surprise. Ozpin really thought Pyrrha would ever do that with him?! Before it shifted to a brief flash of anger. Ozpin thought that lowly of her? Sure, Jaune had only known her for a day, but Pyrrha was one of the nicest and friendliest girls he had ever met.

The idea was a nice fantasy for Jaune, of course, but Pyrrha would never, she wasn't even in the same universe as him. She deserved better.

This time it was Jaune's turn to be embarrassed as he addressed the misunderstanding.

"Um, uh- Yeah, sir? Nothing- uh, nothing like that happened."

Ozpin's eyes returned his stare to Jaune, and Jaune did his best to return it.

Whatever the Headmaster saw in there must have convinced him, as his posture quickly relaxed.

"Ah, good. Nothing wrong with the matter, of course, but Grimm and death aren't the only thing Beacon has lost aspiring Huntresses to. It's a Headmaster's duty to prevent such losses."

This prompted Jaune's cheeks to redden as momentary flashes of Pyrrha's pale skin, bright red hair, and brilliant emerald eyes went through his head. Ozpin merely chuckled.

"Well, if you believe the matter is managed, I'll believe in you, Mr. Arc. You're dismissed."

Jaune nodded and turned, making it a few steps before he remembered another nude figure he had seen that day.

"Mr. Arc?"

Jaune turned back around. "Headmaster… there's something else I need to tell you. The real reason why Pyrrha and I were late."

Ozpin nodded for him to continue.

"We found a cave while we were searching for our relic…"

* * *

Ozpin watched the boy enter the elevator and leave. Once alone, Ozpin sent for Glynda and Qrow to come immediately. Jaune had been relieved to share his and Pyrrha's experience with the Headmaster, and Ozpin had assured him that the thing in the cave would be investigated. His calm voice never wavered, and Jaune left convinced that everything would turn out fine.

Ozpin had no such delusions. His mind was whirling about as the minutes passed, throwing together and dismissing plans as quickly as the ideas were formed.

He had finally settled on a best course of action, when he realized there was a hand on his shoulder, and a voice speaking to him.

"~~~ Ozpin?"

He hadn't even noticed Glynda and Qrow enter.

"Yo Oz, you must have brewed a bad batch." Qrow slowly managed to walk himself to the desk, and was staring into the now-cold pot sitting there. "I could recommend you a better one." He slapped his flask on his belt and gave a crooked smile.

Glynda didn't deign to respond, instead concernedly looking over the Headmaster. "Ozpin, what's happened?"

He looked at them both for a few seconds. Grabbing his cup and emptying it down his throat in a quick, heavy chug, Ozpin steeled himself to say the words that were currently stuck in his throat.

"Today… during initiation… Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos discovered something that should have remained buried." He again eyed the two, before looking down to his feet. "Qrow… Glynda... they found a Titan."

No one moved. The cogs that decorated the far wall were the only sources of noise as the two processed what they had heard.

It was Qrow that broke the silence, like usual.

"You're joking. They're joking." He started to pace in front of the desk. "This isn't funny, Ozpin. _You_ said there were no more Titans. _You_ said they changed into Grimm thousands of years ago."

He turned and growled at the silent Headmaster. "So as far as I see it, either they're lying, or _you_ were."

This brought a dangerous gleam to Glynda's glasses as she glanced at Qrow, but she didn't deny it.

"They found it in a cave. The Titans of old could largely only move during the day, they depended on sunlight for energy." Ozpin spoke mechanically, eyes still downward. "The fact that Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos remain with us can attest that this Titan could not move."

Qrow gave a harsh, hacking laugh. "Only _largely_? Don't think I didn't catch that, Oz. So there's a chance there's more waiting inside, that could still be shuffling around?"

Ozpin didn't answer, which in itself was.

Glynda finally spoke up. "We need to handle this quickly. We can't risk this knowledge becoming public."

At this, they all nodded.

"Qrow…" Ozpin began, before being waved off as the drunkard began his determined stumble to the elevator.

"I know, I know. Back of the neck to kill, yadda yadda."

"Burn anything else you find inside, Qrow." Glynda added, receiving a sarcastic salute from the disheveled man as the elevator doors slid shut.

Glynda turned back to Ozpin with sadness exuding from her usual stoic features. He finally met her eyes, and she could see the same feeling deep within him.

"Is this how it starts, Ozpin?"

He shook his head and stood, walking over to the window wall overlooking the Emerald Forest.

"There's still a chance we can prevent it."

She gave a short laugh, turning to walk away as her eyes began to shine with unspent tears. A cruel sound considering the subject, but it got her point across.

* * *

"Hey, you look pretty exhausted for the first day of classes." Yang pointed at Jaune with a fork, currently impaling some kind of meat. He had been sluggishly picking over his meal, and even dropped a few bites that he had thought went unnoticed.

"Late night." He groaned, getting a strange look from Ruby.

"What kept you up, Jaune? How long did Ozpin keep you after I left?"

Ah shit. What could he say? She knew when their report on the Nevermore had ended, and had gotten plenty of sleep since then apparently. And he couldn't talk about either of the subjects he and Ozpin had actually discussed, for different reasons.

Pyrrha knew enough to see that her partner needed help, so did the one thing she was never good at.

Improvisation.

"Jaune… um… helped me find my bag!" She jumped in, excitedly enough to get a look from all of both teams seated. "It was lost somehow during the initiation, so he helped me find it."

Ren said nothing from his side of the table, but then he didn't have to.

He had Nora for that.

And she was just watching Pyrrha and Jaune quietly for once, but her knowing grin had plenty to say.

"Funny," Blake mused, "I thought I saw you with your bag when we were assigned rooms. I must've been mistaken."

"Yes! Um, that was one of my bags, I have two." Pyyrha tried to salvage the situation, but it was apparent that no one believed her.

"So, do we stick with calling him vomit-boy or lover-boy?" Yang addressed her team, getting varying reactions out of them. Ruby went red, Weiss disgusted, and Blake was back into her book.

Jaune stood, prepared to make a fool of himself to change the subject, when he noticed something out the window he was facing. He stared at the black tendril drifting lazily up into the sky off in the distance.

"That's…" He pointed, accomplishing his goal that he no longer was worried about.

Smoke?

He looked down at Pyrrha next to him, who had arrived at the same conclusion. The smoke was coming from the Emerald Forest.

* * *

"Jaune, are you sure you want to do this?" Pyrrha asked for what felt like the thousandth time. "Maybe this is just a part of Ozpin's handling the situation."

"We're just going to take a look, Pyrrha, no harm done."

They trudged on into the forest, keeping a careful eye out for Grimm.

"By the way, thanks Pyrr."

She gave a tinkle of a laugh. "For what, brave leader?"

"For trying to help me get out of Ruby's interrogation earlier." He stopped, and turned to face Pyrrha. "I don't know what I would've said, but I'm sure it would've only gotten her more curious."

Pyrrha hummed, thinking back to the challenging stare Ruby had given her. "You might not have succeeded on that front, I'm afraid."

He shook his head and gave an embarrassed grin. "No way, I think we're in the clear. No one would actually believe you and I would do something like that."

She went silent, and avoided eye contact as she used her sword to cut some paths through the brush. Unnecessary, really, but to Jaune's eyes she really seemed to hate foliage.

Unfortunately, he wasn't much of a guide, so Pyrrha had to climb some trees to get their bearings of where the smoke was coming from.

When they arrived, the smoke had begun to wind down, and Jaune doubted they would have been able to find it if they had noticed the smoke a half hour later.

"So…" Jaune began. "Want to go inside?"

Pyrrha looked at him with an unbelieving expression before sighing. "We might as well. That must have been a very large fire to generate so much smoke."

He nodded. "True, but I just want to know what's in there that's burning."

Pyrrha gasped. "Do you think… there were more of them in there?"

Jaune shrugged, but his face went pale. "If we see any that survived the fire, we'll leave, how about that?"

He sighed, and extended his own shield.

"Um, Jaune? What are we going to do for light?"

"Way ahead of you." He grinned, grabbing his scroll and some tape from his belt.

"Jaune, now's not the time for jokes."

"Who's joking?" He was already done taping his scroll to his shield, and activating the flashlight function. Now he could see wherever he had his shield pointed!

Genius! Leader-material!

Pyrrha gave a hesitant smile before giving an equally hesitant congratulations.

"Now then…" He held his shield up, pointed down the cave as Pyrrha followed, her own weapon deployed as well.

It didn't take them long to hear crackling embers as they rounded the bend in the cave, losing sight of the entryway.

And the lone silhouette standing there.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just when I decide to try getting a chapter out every few days, an unexpected week long trip to visit family happens. Hopefully I can get that process started sometime soon.**

* * *

Not long after Jaune and Pyrrha had not-so-subtly looked at each other and nodded before excusing themselves, team RWBY and the other half of JNPR had surrendered to their curiosity.

"So Ren, Nora. How long did… uhm…" Yang didn't finish, instead nodding her head at the retreating forms of the blond and redhead, and thrusting one of her fingers through a circle made by two others. "... that take to start?"

"I don't think it has." Ren spoke, his hand on his chin in thought.

"Bullshit. They're hiding something. Something together. It's not even the end of the first day of class, so there's not much else trouble they could get into."

Nora, her fork shoveling the last of Ren's dinner into her mouth, raised her hand.

"MmmMMmm! Mmmm Mm Mmm~!"

Ren sighed. "Nora, swallow first."

Doing so, she tried again. "I think I know~!" She sang. "Last night I was too excited for today, so I had trouble getting to sleep, so I counted the threads on my sheets! Pyrrha thought I fell asleep, so sat and waited until Jaune came back! Then they went into the hallway and talked for a while before coming back."

"Do you know when Jaune got back?" Ruby piped up. "We only talked about that weird Nevermore while I was in Ozpin's office with him, but Jaune stayed behind for some reason."

Nora hummed and imitated Ren's thinking posture for a few seconds before shrugging, and a few shoulders drooped in disappointment.

Blake's pair was one of those that didn't. "I heard someone talking in the hallway just after midnight," Marking her place, she set aside her book. "I thought I heard the voices mention a cave, but I couldn't make out much else."

"That's my partner! Best ears in Beacon!" Yang corralled her partner in a hug, not noticing or caring that her victim looked momentarily nervous before returning to her usual placid manner. Or the bow on top of her head twitch.

"That doesn't make sense though. Why would Jaune and Pyrrha talk about a cave?" Weiss looked preemptively at Yang. "And Pyrrha would _never_ stoop so low as to… as to… dirty… herself with someone like him."

"I don't know about that." Blake tapped the cover of her book. "Sometimes even a princess can fall for a pauper." Earning an angry glare from Weiss, her eyes gleamed. "Or an heiress. not much of a difference, really."

"Not in this, or any other lifetime." She growled.

That was when Nora gasped. "What if the cave's their secret base?!" Grabbing Ren, she shook him by the shoulders. "REN, WE NEED ONE TOO!"

"We have a room."

"That's not a secret base, silly! A secret base is-!"

"A secret base… is a place for secret activities." Yang said slowly, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "So if we find their cave, we may have a better idea of what they're hiding."

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement, other than Weiss. She crossed her arms and looked around the table. "I still don't believe Pyrrha would lower herself in such a way… but there's something else." She tapped the table before her. "When would they have had the time to find a cave?" Not waiting for an answer, she stood and pointed out a window. The same window smoke could be clearly seen from.

Even with this clue, no one answered for a few seconds, eliciting a groan from Weiss.

"The Emerald Forest! The only time they could have found a cave is during initiation!"

"Ahhhh," Yang was watching the smoke now, before realization hit suddenly. "Hey, didn't Jaune and Pyrrha leave right after seeing that smoke?"

The students looked at each other blankly.

"Ruby, could yo-" Yang started, turning to her little sister in time to see rose petals settling where she had been, and in a long trail out of the cafeteria. "... That's my sis." She finished with a sigh.

"We should probably start now if we're going to catch up." Ren rose from the table smoothly. "We can have our lockers meet us at the entrance to the forest."

The rest followed, Yang pulling out her scroll to find a message from Ruby letting her know she was already on Jaune and Pyrrha's tail, and they had already entered the forest.

* * *

At the entrance to the cave, Ruby Rose peered into the darkness. She had peeked around the edge once she couldn't hear Jaune and Pyrrha's footsteps echoing out, and watched silently as the light from Jaune's scroll dissipated. Pulling out her own, she sent the others the final message needed to join her, having updated them on her way.

It didn't take them long to arrive.

"Doesn't look like much of a secret base." Yang muttered, joining Ruby at the entrance.

Blake sniffed. "Something was definitely burning in there, however." Her face scrunched in thought. She thought there might be something else rapidly dissipating in the air.

Steam?

Ren approached the wall of rock to the side of the cave. A dark smudge sat there, though lines could be seen etched into the rock just outside the smudge's limits. Running a hand against it, he pulled it back upon noticing the residue on his fingers. Wiping it as clean as he could on the grass, he joined the others at the cave's mouth. "Something burned outside as well."

Looking exaggeratedly at the unburnt foliage between the cave mouth and the burnt wall area, Ruby connected the dots. "Someone did that?"

Getting a nod from Ren, she looked back into the cave, and gave voice to her worry.

"So they might not be alone in there?"

* * *

"Almost there." Jaune whispered to his side, Pyrrha nodding. As they reached the point Jaune had tripped, he slowed. Motioning for Pyrrha to wait, he held up his shield higher, and leaned around the slight turn.

Only to see an empty cave.

The thing from before was gone, totally and completely.

He must have been more shocked than he realized, as he felt Pyrrha tap his shoulder. "... Jaune?"

"It- It's gone."

She looked around the corner for herself, and was both relieved and worried it wasn't there.

"It didn't move before, Jaune. What could have happened to change that?" She turned to him, a frown etched on her features. "Should we turn back?"

"No!" He surprised them both, speaking a little louder than he intended. "No, we're already this far. Ozpin said he'd handle this, and I'm thinking that meant burning whatever was inside here. I think we'll be fine." He reached a hand out to Pyrrha's shoulder at this, hoping she wouldn't notice its slight shake. And She didn't, as she was relishing in his perceived confidence.

With a nod, Jaune took the lead again, and walked ever further into the cave.

"Do you hear that?"

Pyrrha was stopped, her hand gripping Jaune's elbow firmly. "What?" He breathed, his heartbeat pounding away.

"I hear… something. We must be near the end."

Jaune let loose a tense breath. "Good… Let's see what we can find."

Slowly rounding another corner, they quickly found something that definitely did not belong in the inner depths of a cave.

They found a door.

It was a grey metal door, already opened and allowing the two an unobstructed view of a pile of glowing embers and charred wood.

"Pyrrha…"

"Yes, Jaune?"

"Why is there a door in a cave?"

Pyrrha shrugging an answer, he approached the door and poked his head in, examining their new surroundings. It appeared to be a simple room. A decent sized one, and certainly unexpected, but still simple. The floor was smoothed and flat, but still the same rock as that just outside the door. The walls had received the same treatment as well, though the ceiling was unaffected. Lights were strung overhead, though none were working at present.

Pyrrha followed activating the light on her own scroll, and observed the pile of ashes as Jaune continued exploring the walls. Using her spear, she tossed some of the larger charred pieces aside to look over, and tapped through the ashes to feel for anything buried underneath.

"Pyrrha. Look."

She looked in Jaune's direction, finding his scroll's light focused on a series of parallel, large cuts running along the section of the wall. "Shelves?" She guessed.

"Yeah. But they're empty. And look." He brought his scroll closer to one. "Looks like there were books here. The dust left outlines."

The embers cracked particularly loud as if taunting them. "I guess we know what happened to them." Jaune joked, disappointment coloring his self-chuckle.

"Whoever was here didn't take much chances." She agreed, turning to walk back to the items she had fished from the ashes. "Let's see if we can tell what was burnt, that may give us an idea of what this place was for."

Following her, they tried to piece together the broken and burnt pieces, to little luck. "This was either part of a table, or a broom." Jaune sighed and tossed his piece aside, turning to another. This one was heavier, and just looked like a thick slab of wood, the top of a desk.

That had what looked like a hole into it, exposing a dark compartment.

Intrigued, Jaune tried to grip and move the wood, only to be reminded painfully that it had been in the middle of a fire earlier. Drawing his sword once again, he used it to rotate the piece and try to get a better look inside. Inside appeared to be a book, the hardcover facing the hole slightly blackened from the heat it had endured.

Letting out a hoot of excitement, he waved Pyrrha over. "Wow, did we get lucky or what?"

"Indeed," she switched her own spear to its sword form, and began swinging it hard into the desk, widening the hole. Judging a few swings to be enough, she reached into the hole and retrieved the book, frowning as she felt her fingers brush against warm metal. "I think there might be more inside." Passing the book to Jaune before probing the hole once more, she found herself gripping a silver locket. Holding it beneath Jaune's scroll light, she looked upon the amazingly detailed side portraits of three women adorning one side. Some kind of writing was etched beneath each face, but was unknown to them both. Flipping the locket over, she found two shallow arches, curves angling downward.

Jaune was watching too, and couldn't comprehend what he was looking at.

"These marks look familiar." Pyrrha muttered, unaware. "What do you think, Jaune?"

He stuttered for a few seconds, getting a raised eyebrow from Pyrrha. Giving up on speaking, he pointed at his shield. Or more accurately, the family crest adorning it.

Two crescent moons, angled downward.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to look more?" The seductress asked the knight.

Back pushed flush against the cave wall, Ruby's heart was pounding a mile and she could already feel the heat in her cheeks. The others were huddled near her, but she was closest to the turn of the cave they had stopped at. Afraid that looking around the corner would confirm the lewd worries running through her mind, Ruby was helpless.

"I think we've done enough for today. We can always come back later." She could just imagine the knight holding the redhead's chin up, the two sharing a meaningful and lusty look… The spartan warrior purring as she agreed.

"Should we tell the others?"

Ruby gulped, already imagining how awkward that would be. Why?!

"Mmm… I think they'll find out eventually, with what we're bringing back. We might as well. Maybe they can help us figure stuff out."

Ruby went pale.

"Ren and Blake might be able to help, they seem like the kind that would be interested in this."

Ruby heard movement not far from her, and a muffled cough from Ren as Nora began whispering aggressively into his ear. Blake remained quiet, though was thankful no one else could see her face.

The strangling sounds abated worryingly, though Ruby didn't have long to think about it. She could hear the two deviant's footsteps.

"We need to go!" Blake hissed, prodding everyone into movement. Blake sprinted down the cave tunnel, her eyes making the task a simple one.

It wasn't so simple for the others. Not hearing any footfalls behind her, Blake paused to look back, and found the rest of her group trying in vain to catch up. Nora was the closest to her, having had Ren over her shoulder and dragging his feet along the cave wall in an effort to guide them both. Yang was entangled with Weiss, and Ruby was face-down on the floor, having tried to use her semblance and tripped. None had thought to use their scrolls.

The rose petals were still drifting to the ground when Jaune and Pyrrha rounded the corner and found their friends in various states of embarrassment. While Jaune's surprise never left his face, Pyrrha's affecting a slight frown in a guess of the group's intentions.

Both teams walked the rest of the way back to the cave entrance in silence. Once out in the open, Jaune and Pyrrha shared another one of their irritating nods of understanding before Jaune turned to address everyone else. He didn't get the chance.

Weiss' raised her hand to halt his words before they started. "I just want to say, that I disapprove of whatever you two have been doing, and I'm disappointed in you both." Jaune frowned, not understanding as Pyrrha pointedly avoided his questioning look and Ruby joined her partner in frowning at the two.

"I know it was dangerous," he slowly started, "but we had to look for answers about something we found in there during initiation."

Ruby's frown couldn't hold back her curious nature long. "You saw something in there? What was it?"

Jaune shrugged. "Me and Pyrrha went into the caves while looking for the relics, and we saw a giant naked guy. It wasn't moving, so we left and told Ozpin about it later."

This brought a mixed reaction from the group. Ruby and Weiss sighed in relief, for different reasons. Nora and Yang immediately started yelling, mainly wanting to know why they hadn't brought them along. Ren and Blake wore their usual blank features, but listened attentively.

"Ozpin said he'd have it handled, so when we saw the smoke at dinner we wanted to see what had happened, or what was left over. All we found was this book," he patted his side with it, before gesturing at Pyrrha. "And a locket."

Pyrrha grabbed her prize from a belt pocket, and held it up in her hand for the rest to see the women's portraits and strange writing. She didn't bother to show the other side, and Jaune made no mention of it. Some things he didn't want to even think of until they had more answers.

"Can I see that?" Blake offered a hand out, and Pyrrha dropped it there with a nod and smile. Tracing her fingers along the fine details of the locket, Blake didn't even notice her faint smile. While never one for jewelry, she couldn't help but appreciate the artistry that went into the etchings. Handing it back to Pyrrha, she had another idea. "Have you tried opening it yet?"

"We wanted to try and read this book first, so we can read whatever stuff's in the locket." Jaune cracked the mentioned book open, sighing and scanning through the pages. "I have no idea what any of this says. There's not even any pictures."

"Well Beacon _does_ have the most extensive library in Vale." Weiss had a hand on her hip, and had a cruelly amused smile on her face at Jaune's wince. "If you're really that curious, you're most likely to find an answer there. It'll be closed by now though."

She exaggeratedly in the direction of the setting sun, just now brushing against the mountains on the horizon, and starting its slow orange coloring of the sky.

* * *

Ozpin was watching the decline of that same sun, again staring out of his window overlooking the Emerald Forest. His scroll sat on his desk, the entirety of Qrow's report occupying the screen alone. One word.

 _Liar._

One hand reached out to feel the cool glass before him, the only thing separating him from a long fall. At one time he would have entertained the thought, even acted on it, but not anymore. Time had given him understanding. The knowledge that running from failure and difficult fights would only cost him and those under his protection all the more.

As the last flashes of sunlight left his view, Ozpin returned to his desk.

He needed to make some calls.


	4. Chapter 4

**Would have had this done sooo much sooner, if not for F/GO being addicting (EX Luck) and a three-week visit with relatives. Classes start next week, so who knows when the next one will be. I hope to pick this up more when we start getting to more active events.**

* * *

Before the week was through, teams JNPR and RWBY had decided to meet in the library to see what they could glean from what they had found in the cave.

Even before the meeting was through, most had given up.

Ruby, Yang, and Nora had been given the task of rounding up any books that could be relevant to their search, and almost performed that job _too_ well. They had grown bored with their partners and teammates concentrating on their chosen readings, so turned to seeing how high they could stack the remaining books they found.

This left the rest able to focus on deciphering the language from Jaune's book, search for information on giant nude men in caves, and ancient Valish civilizations that could be related to either.

Clapping yet another book shut, Weiss sighed, the breath heavy with annoyance. "I don't even know why I'm here." Setting it carefully atop the pile of books determined to be unhelpful, she gave a two-armed vertical stretch. "Has anyone found _anything_?"

Her frustrated gaze swept past everyone, each giving a shrug or similar answer. Until she looked at team JNPR's dear leader, the one who had been so passionate about finding answers to questions he had literally stumbled onto.

His face was buried in the pages of a thick volume on the prominent warriors of the Great War and their family histories. And now, she could tell, lightly snoring.

"Jaune!"

"Whu- Wha?" He lifted his head up at Weiss' raised voice, and meeting her glare with a drowsy look of his own as his mind slowly got up to speed. "Uh… So, has anyone found anything yet?"

Weiss' face began to turn an angry shade of red, and looked ready to explode. Ruby even instinctively ducked behind her and Yang's tower, a few dozen feet away. However, Weiss surprised them all when she closed her eyes and managed to calm herself with a few long, deep breaths. When her usual pale complexion had returned, she gave a soft smile and looked back to Jaune. Her tone was every bit as icy as her homeland. "I think we're done here. Feel free to waste your team's time, but I won't let you waste mine's." With this, she stood and leaned over the table threateningly at Jaune.

Her eyes flitted to Ruby and Yang, who were just as unhappy with the conversation's turn. "I won't let you distract us when we should be studying for class."

Letting her words hang in the air for a breath, she then turned and began corralling Ruby and Yang towards the exit, their complaints causing others to look at the commotion. Her leaving might have been more poignant if not for Blake speaking up.

"I'm going to stay a bit longer, Weiss."

"You... " Weiss' fury was already spent, but the embers still simmered in her voice. "I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am. I expected more from you."

"I'm well ahead in readings for next week. I have no intention of getting mediocre grades this early in the year. Besides, you have a more important problem."

Weiss cocked an eyebrow at the black haired girl, who now had a noticeable, faint smile and a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Ruby and Yang."

Weiss whipped around in alarm, to find the teammates that had been behind her were now missing. She muttered a few un-Schnee like expletives under her breath as she stalked off in pursuit.

Pyhrra politely covered her chuckle at the girl's troubles, but turned serious as she focused on Jaune.

"Jaune, as your partner, I…"

"I know, it's my fault Pyhrr." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I didn't expect 'the most extensive library in Vale' to not have anything for us. By the way, thanks for helping Blake. You really didn't have to."

The black-clad girl shrugged and returned to her current book on the evolution of Remnant glyphs. "I don't mind. This whole thing has been very curious, and I have a weakness for things like this." Her eyes glanced up to see the others briefly. "I'm more surprised about what we haven't found."

Bouncing his feet unconsciously, Jaune groaned as he rocked on the back legs of the seat. "There aren't even that many tales of giants, period, in Remnant."

Ren closed his book with an air of frustration, setting it aside. "And those that do, all wear some kind of clothes."

Jaune and Pyhrra shuddered a little at the memory. While they didn't have a view of "the goods" at the time of their discovery, it hadn't stopped their minds from trying to fill in the horrifying blanks later.

"No recorded language matches the script from the journal either." Pyhrra held up her scroll, a sample picture of the journal's writing on display. "We may need to consult a professor or linguist."

"Professor Oobleck?" Jaune stretched.

Ren shook his head. "I don't think we should involve Beacon Academy staff. We're reasonably sure that Ozpin's the one who wanted this gone to begin with. If the other professors tell him what we're asking about, we may lose our information to them."

Dejected silence took over the table.

Blake set down her book. "I may know someone…" she said hesitantly, looking carefully at Jaune. "But he'll want to see the journal in person."

Jaune let his chair fall to settle on all four legs. "Why didn't you say so before?!" He raised his voice, getting a few shushes from more studious students nearby. "Can you get us a meeting with him?" He hissed, excited for some progress.

"That's the thing… he's cautious about who he meets. It would be easier if I go alone."

Jaune raised his eyebrow curiously. He'd had his own experiences with people described like Blake's friend, and they had cost him quite a bit for the records to join Beacon. He certainly hadn't expected Blake to know anyone like that. "And he'd do it for free?"

She nodded. "He'd usually charge for something like this, but he owes me a few favors."

Jaune nodded once as well. "Sounds like a plan. But, Blake?" Her head cocked a little in question. "Is this guy involved with anything dangerous?"

Her eyes tightened in surprise as she tried to think of how to answer that without outing herself. Too bad for her, Jaune noticed.

"I think I'll just hold onto the journal and we can do some more reading in Vale later. Thanks for the offer Blake, but I don't want anyone in danger over a dusty old book." He shrugged. "Maybe once we've tried everything else first. Until then, it'll be just fine waiting in the dorm."

Blake sighed in frustration, and rose from her chair. "Just keep it in mind. I doubt we'll have much luck elsewhere." She nodded a curt goodbye as she left.

"I'm going to regret that. I'm already exhausted from reading what we have here" Jaune looked at his remaining fellow researchers. Pyhrra was watching him intently with her piercing green eyes, and Ren's pink were tinged with worry.

"Ren? What's wrong?"

He placed his head in his hands slowly.

"I don't hear Nora."

* * *

"Excuse me, Nora, but why are you following me?"

Weiss had had little luck finding the troublesome sisters, and had slowed her chase through the halls to a fast walk when she realized the energetic girl was right behind her.

"I want to play hide and seek too! I'm frankly insulted you didn't invite anyone else to join."

Weiss could only cover her face with one hand in frustration as she apologized in a defeated voice and asked for Nora's help.

"Sure thing Weissy-poo! I'll find them and have them in the queen's dungeon before dinner!"

"I'll search outdoors and -" Weiss' sentence was cut short by the realization she was alone once more. "- and I don't know if I care anymore."

If she were a pair of obstinate sisters determined to avoid learning anything for the rest of the day, where would she be?

* * *

"What do you mean the Bullhead's not running?!"

The pilot the question was directed at cringed, the pitch hitting his ears just right.

"I _mean_ it's not running. Didn't you get the schedule on the first day? We don't start the hourly runs to Vale until next week." Red-hood whimpered, and her eyes seemed to drill into him with a cute plea. He paused as he gave the taller blonde girl a look. "This… isn't an emergency, right?"

"Unfortunately, no." Gently shoving the red-hooded miss away from in front of the pilot, yellow girl crossed her arms, exaggerating her more womanly features. "But maybe I'd owe you one for helping us out this one time..." Winking at the end, her lilac eyes seemed to promise she'd pay up.

As tempted as he was, after a brief pause entertaining the idea, the pilot shook his head. "Sorry, I can't. As soon as we lifted off I'd be on report."

Blonde cursed and dropped her act. Turning away and biting her thumb in thought, she ignored the pilot entirely. He also wasn't sure if he should be grateful or offended.

"Well thanks anyway." She muttered distractedly, walking past and grabbing Red-hood to drag her back to Beacon proper.

Once they were out of sight, the pilot released his breath he didn't realize he had held. He didn't know what he had expected Huntresses to be like, but that wasn't it. At least he had been able to hold firm against them.

The pilot returned to what he had been doing before the two huntresses found him, examining his craft. Circling it, he checked his handiwork, from the sheen of the metal to the tanks filled with liquid dust. It really was ready for the short, but near constant runs to and from Vale. He had been considering taking it for a test flight earlier, but now that he'd refused to help the girls, he didn't think it right.

Arriving back at his starting point, he noticed the sound of footsteps in tune with his own. When he stopped, they did as well. One step of his produced the sound of two, one of which came from right…

Turning swiftly around, the pilot found a redhead smiling sweetly at him, her hands gripped together and held next to her face in a princess-like gesture. Her eyes, however, promised a different kind of trouble than the kind the blonde's did earlier.

"The queen requires your help, faithful knight. The enemies of the queen have hidden, and require eagle eyes to find. Onward-ho!"

The pilot had a feeling this wouldn't end well.

* * *

"I don't wanna do homework this early! It's not even due until next week!"

"No kidding, Rubes. Weiss-cream can chill, we have the weekend for that."

Ignoring Ruby's disgusted look at her, Yang led on, trying to find something for them to do.

"We could always spar."

"NO!" Yang smirked and raised a questioning eyebrow at Ruby, who hadn't realized her distinctive voice echoed quite a ways throughout the hallways of the grand school. "I mean, uh, no. You always win, and I need to fight against other people and stuff. Yeah, that's it." Nodding to herself in confirmation, she also didn't notice the slight sound of quickening heel clicks.

"So you're scared you'll lose?"

"I'm not scared!"

"Then spar with me!"

"NO! I don't wanna lose!"

The steps were coming faster now, and Yang's head twitched as she glanced behind them. Catching up at a snail's place, Weiss was power walking, her desire for some semblance of decorum preventing her from full-out sprinting after her targets while inside the school. She noticed Yang's look, and her speed increased further.

"Nevermind, I was just teasing." Yang ruffled Ruby's dark hair as they walked. "Since we don't have anything else to do, we might as well get an early dinner."

Patting over her back pockets, Yang affected a concerned frown. "Huh. Guess I forgot my wallet. I'll go grab it at the dorm, you go on ahead." She smiled at the unwitting younger sister. "We'll need the cash, I heard they're making fresh cookies today."

Ruby's face lit up in anticipation, and with a wave and goodbye she began her skipping way to the cafeteria.

All according to plan.

Yang hadn't forgotten her wallet at all, and it sat snugly in her pocket. But she did know Weiss considered Ruby more in need of help than her older sister. Rightly so, in Yang's mind. As high as her opinion of Ruby was, she knew better than anyone that Ruby needed to study hard if she was to keep up with students two years her senior.

And since Weiss was only one person, she could only choose to follow one other person.

Yang turned down the hallway leading to the dorms, whistling to herself as she heard the clicking heels get louder and louder. For a few seconds they ceased, and the dull chatter of other students swallowed any curse Weiss might have uttered. Then the sound began once more, falling away as Weiss went down the hallway after Ruby.

Yang loved it when a plan came together.

* * *

Weiss had lost quite a bit of her distance to Ruby, as the fool of a leader had no qualms with skipping through the hallways. Who in their right mind skipped anywhere, nevertheless in a school dedicated to educating huntresses and huntsmen, warriors against the Grimm?

Pulling out her scroll, she messaged Nora, who she hoped hadn't gotten bored and gave up.

" _Nora, I found them. I'm following Ruby, and I believe we're headed to the dining area. Yang was headed towards the dorms when I last saw her."_

Message sent, she didn't have to wait long for a reply, nonsensical as it ended up being.

" _The queen's cavalry is airborne! I repeat, the queen's cavalry is airborne!"_

Putting her scroll away, Weiss didn't think much of decoding Nora's message. It was nonsensical enough that Nora repeated herself over text, she didn't need to worry about making sense of it. She just took it as an affirmative, and decided to let the "queen" have her fun.

* * *

Yang had turned to the final hallway for first years, where RWBY and JNPR dorms were located. Still satisfied with herself from the way over, she hesitated now for the briefest of moments. JNPR's door was wide open.

Carefully walking over to it, Yang peeked inside.

"What a mess…"

The normally well-kept dorm room looked ransacked. Drawers emptied and clothes tossed, books thrown to the floor from their shelves. Mattresses strewn across the floor.

"And here I thought JNPR would be more organized than us…"

Yang shook her head in a dramatic display of shame. More a show for herself than anyone else, she was unaware of the eyes on her every move. A shadow melded into the ceiling above, slinking along to remain out of the blonde's eyesight. No sound, no trace of its presence.

Yang did however, hear a curious sound coming from the open window.

Jumping on and over the heaps on the floor, she reached the windowsill, and tried to place the whining sound. As it quickly became a roar, she recognized it.

The Bullhead floated down from above. Accidental or not, the aircraft's announcement system was on full and announcing to everyone in Beacon what was taking place.

" _THE QUEEN HAS COME FOR HER WAYWARD SUBJECTS! BOW DOWN OR BE DESTROYED!"_

"Nora?!" Yang could only feel disbelief. How could Nora get the use of that Bullhead when she could not?

The Bullhead and its occupants didn't respond to her, though murmurs could now be heard.

" _WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE NO WEAPONS?! THEN WHAT DOES THIS DO?"_

Floodlights on full, flashing in tune with laser noises from the announcer. Aimed into the JNPR dorm room, the lights were bright enough to blind both Yang and the shadow. To late in protecting her eyes, Yang did the next best thing, and started rolling on the floor as the white pain clouding her sight mellowed.

" _OH, THIS LOOKS GOOD!_ "

Peeking through her fingers and standing on unstable legs, Yang was unable to dodge the projectile shot at her. Fired from and still attached to the Bullhead by a sturdy wire, a device had stuck itself to Yang. A second had been fired at the shadow, but the target was much too nimble. Scurrying out the JNPR doorway into the hallway while remaining on the ceiling, the shadow virtually disappeared.

"What in the -"

Yang didn't have that option. The device glowed, and netting exploded from it, wrapping Yang into a cocoon of sorts. Yang was still unsure if she had woken up that morning, or if this was all a dream, when she felt a tug as the Bullhead began pulling away from the dorm building.

"Oh please, noooOOOOOO!"

She was pulled through the open window, and the end of her complaint could barely be heard over the delighted humming from the Bullhead's announcer.

* * *

Not a half an hour later, the two huntresses-in-training and the pilot stood in front of Ozpin's desk. Ozpin himself was drinking his coffee, dark circles under his eyes as he looked through his latest problem. The fire and fury in Goodwitch's eyes as she paced and recounted the earlier events made Ozpin's own look dead by comparison.

"... and then took another three laps around the dining room, before acceding to directions to land immediately." Crossing her arms, she turned to Ozpin "A gross misuse of public transportation, dangerous use of the emergency cargo system, and grounds for a case of student misconduct."

Ozpin didn't respond, his eyes still looking not at the three aligned before him, but into a far off distance.

"Headmaster." Goodwitch's voice softened slightly, and she reached over to place her hand on his desk. It was a gentle touch, but enough to rouse him. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth as he set his cup down.

"Let's be… open about this. Ladies, I don't want to see another member of either of your teams in here for misconduct again. Neither do you." His bloodshot eyes rolled to the pilot, rigid and sweating at attention. "And you… your test of the Bullhead and its systems is quite unorthodox. Please refrain from doing so in the future."

Ozpin stood, leaning against his desk. "I know rules can be restricting, I truly do. They are, however, the defining quality of mankind. They exist to keep us from becoming animals, to be ruled by instinct over mind. When broken, they will always cause more problems than those solved."

He retrieved his cane, and began walking to his wall window behind the desk. The three didn't recognize the dismissal for what it was until Ms. Goodwitch shooed them away to the elevator.

When the doors shut and the motors whirred their descent, she returned to Ozpin's side.

"You really should have been more firm." She says softly, "The first week is barely through. Who knows what they'll get up to given time and training."

Ozpin didn't respond. He simply watched the city of Vale, his gaze almost pitying.

She reached a hand onto his shoulder, again bringing his attention to the present.

"Has something happened?"

"The general... has decided his presence is needed earlier than scheduled, to better protect the Vytal Festival." Ozpin's head turned to meet the Headmistresses' gaze. "He's bringing his personal battleship… and half the Atlesian Navy."

Her grip tightened at the mention of the Atlesian general. If that hadn't been enough, her hiss would have made her feelings on him clear.

"Ironwood! He's going to only help the grow of negativity in Vale with that kind of 'presence'." Placing mocking emphasis on the word, her face slowly twisted from distaste to shock.

"You said… his personal battleship?"

Ozpin merely nodded.

"What the _hell_ is he thinking?!"

* * *

Far off, at the Atlas docks, the man in question was standing deep in the bowels of his airship. He should be at the bridge, but was not. He had left Winter to oversee the departure preparations.

Instead, he was looking over their secured cargo.

Few knew of its being there, in the heart of the most powerful ship in the world.

A large crystal, a few feet taller than the general himself, was held firmly in place with a custom-made frame. The ship itself was designed around the crystal, with its defense in mind.

Ironwood reached one gloved hand out, feeling the smooth, angled surface.

At the heart of the crystal, a young girl stood suspended. Her name was lost to time, though Ironwood had seen Ozpin give it strange looks on the few times he'd seen it. While he suspected Ozpin knew, a part of the general thought it better this way.

The intercom nearby buzzed once.

"General, all diagnostics have been completed, and the rest of the fleet is ready for our launch."

His hand slowly pulled back, almost reluctantly.

With the news from Ozpin, he knew their enemies were busy planning. Taking action. While it was a gamble, the firepower of the Atlesian Navy would surely prevail over anything that the Queen could muster.

"Sir?"

He couldn't afford to be lost in thought. He needed focus.

"Launch the ship. Set the fleet's course for Vale."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Getting glad I'm getting to the more divergent parts. Writing is fun and all, but going over plot points from the show but adding minor changes can be grinding. Also, while I've added some new story ideas to my profile, I want to get this to an approximation of V4 before I begin anything else. Even more also, hit up JPDE by Meinos if you're a fan of VN's or RWBY. New version released today. :)**

* * *

"That all you got, Jauney-boy?"

He swung Crocea Mors wildly in the voice's direction, swiping through air from his half-kneel position. Not the best form to swing from, but Cardin's mace hadn't given him much of a choice.

His arm now extended, Jaune was starting to think he had made a mistake.

 _Yep. Definitely another mistake._

Cardin's heavy hand on Jaune's forearm confirmed it, and the thud of his mace against Jaune's sheath-shield shook his bones. After a few of these pummels, Cardin changed the angle of his swing, catching the edge of the shield and sending it skittering across the floor. It slowly screeched to stop in front of the audience.

Before the fight had started, his friends and teammates had given their usual encouragements. Though their tone had changed noticeably with each time he lost.

 _You've got this, Jaune!_

 _Watch his movements. Dodge if you can._

 _Wow… your aura can take more damage than I thought it would._

 _Uh… good luck?_

Barely weeks into the year and he was solidly the worst in combat duels. He knew it, his friends knew it. And he was about to confirm it yet again to the rest of the class.

Jaune could only watch helplessly as Cardin's knee plowed into his stomach, and his concerns went to breathing over all else. He heard Cardin's taunting voice as he fell to the floor and curled in on his stomach, but couldn't concentrate on what was said. An eternity passed by before Jaune could draw a semblance of a breath.

"This match is over."

A certain witch's heels clicked near his head.

"Mr. Arc, gambits such as the one you took are a _last_ resort. Attacking blindly and from a poor position does not provide much advantage, and is a chance better ignored than fantasized about. Aura protects us from a lot of potentially fatal attacks, but their effects can still be felt."

The pain at the core of his being was gradually receding in waves now. What was left of his pride would take longer.

Jaune shakily drew himself up onto his hands and knees. He was so tired of failing. Of losing to Cardin. Maybe he didn't belong here after all.

Wiping the spit from his mouth, he steeled himself before standing. He could already feel the soft, pitying looks from his friends and classmates stabbing into his back.

"Not too bad, _Jaune_ ," Cardin stood a few feet away, his mace resting against his neck as part of his casual victory pose. "You almost hit me once."

Cardin's team had a raucous laugh at that, as the leader himself smirked and glanced at them. Though he couldn't tell how they could have heard from across the room.

"Mr. Winchester, you are correct in that. While Mr. Arc's attack was inadvisable, his strike would have done significant damage to your aura reserves had it hit." Goodwitch looked meaningfully at Cardin, whose smile had left his face. "Which it very nearly did."

Cardin and Jaune gave the professor a short nod, and returned to their seats as Goodwitch called for the next combatants.

"You almost had him!" Ruby squeaked from the seat next to his, her tone not matching her worried expression.

"No, I didn't."

"Well... I mean… you didn't, but you _almost_ hit him this time!"

A familiar gloved hand on his shoulder reassured him. "Ruby's correct, you have made significant improvements since your first match."

"Thanks, Pyhrr." Jaune sighed, choosing to focus on the fight between Blake and Nora now occurring. He knew she was right, though that didn't amount for much while he continued his loss streak.

Pyrrha lifted her hand slowly. While it had been a while since she had a loss of her own, she had seen other fighters crack under the burden of too many. It was never a good sight, and she couldn't bear the thought of her partner, her friend, Jaune Arc, going through the same.

Her fingers went to the small of her throat, where her pendant from their first adventure together lay. Gently squeezing the hard, ornate steel, she made up her mind.

* * *

"I should have won tha~at!" Nora slammed her fist into the cafeteria table and gave a low growl. A growl directed at the black-bowed girl quietly eating her food across the table. "You cheated!"

Nora's keeper sighed wearily next to her. "Nora, Ms. Goodwitch banning you from saturation-grenading the arena was not Blake's doing."

"It might have been! Did you even see her?! She's a quick, sneaky ninja." Nora narrowed her eyes at the girl in question, who deigned to just watch them bicker.

"That's my partner! Despite her outfit colors, she's pretty _light_ on her feet."

The two teams dropped their conversations to look at Yang confusedly.

"Cause she always wears black? And it's the opposite of light?"

Groans spread from around Yang, even reaching other tables within hearing range of the bad explanation. A faunus with rabbit ears stopped as she exited the cafeteria line, shaking her head in disappointment before she continued to look for her seat.

"Ya~ang!" Ruby whined cutely, her head in her hands. "She wears white too! It doesn't make any sense!"

"You all just have trouble appreciating good humor."

"No! _No_." Weiss shook her head emphatically. "I've seen good humor, and that is _not_ humor _at all._ "

Yang waved the heiress's complaints away, her grin making Weiss' cheeks flush in frustration. At least, for a moment. Then Weiss gave a merciless smile of her own and pulled out her scroll, tapping away.

"Uh… what you doing there, Weiss?" Yang leaned over, taking a look at her teammate's scroll screen.

"Oh… just sharing some _real_ humor."

Yang didn't like the sound of that at all, and liked it even less when her own scroll and that of the others at the table beeped once with a message.

Pulling her own scroll out suspiciously, Yang opened the message to see a Bullhead appear on the screen. From the video's recording view, she could see it was outside a second floor building, and that its cockpit was facing straight at a window with a familiar figure looking out. Gold mane, all the right curves…

Nora led the laughs around the table, as everyone watched Yang's mishap in high definition. Yang herself could see why it was funny, but remembering the cargo net wrapping around her and forcing her off her feet brought up feelings she didn't want to dwell on.

Ren, only giving a smile in recognition of the laughs the video caused, dropped it towards the end of the video. "Nora," He turned to her, tapping his own screen at a paused scene. "I thought you were the one who caused the mess in our room?"

The redhead turned and pressed the video on Ren's screen, laughing again at Yang's screams as she was ripped pulled out the window. "Na~ah, it was already like that." She tapped her chin. "I figured Yang or the other person there did it."

Everyone sat stunned, while Nora rewound the video and watched it again, laughing at the same volume as the first time.

"Nora…" Yang began, looking desperately through her own memories of the time. "The door _was_ already open, and I didn't go through your things. But there wasn't anyone else there."

"Yeah, there was. They were on the ceiling."

Now everyone crowded around Nora as she rewound the video yet again, and played it back in a slower speed. With her finger she pointed at a previously unnoticed black-clad figure, seen exactly where she had claimed. A few seconds later, and they watched it move unnaturally quick, dodging the second cargo net that had been fired. "Did you know that Bullheads have infrared? That's how I noticed them." She nodded, then laughed as Yang's pleas for help from the video played once more.

The rest of the table was silent at this. Questions whirled in their heads that none could give voice to.

Who was that in the JNPR dorm?

Why did they trash the place?

 _Did it have anything to do with the journal?_

* * *

Jaune was still worried by those questions later that night, watching the stars from the upper floor balcony. He had come up alone, looking for peace from his self-doubts and concerns. Looking out over the campus and the bright lights of Vale in the distance, he managed to do so for only a while.

 _Who was in our room?_

If they _had_ been after the journal, how did they know he had it at all?

Jaune groaned and slowly went down to the floor, taking a look at the stars and patches of clouds above. There was too much to think about, and nothing concrete to go on. Before today, he had felt they could safely look for their answers and be as long as Ozpin didn't hear of it. And even then, the worst he could imagine was that they'd be punished with detention.

He rubbed his temples. Now they knew someone wanted what they had, and enough to break into a Beacon itself. Someone willing to risk that would probably be fine with harming people in their way. Jaune's earlier comment to Blake couldn't seem more ironic to him now. He had risked his friends just by letting them know he had the journal.

"I'm such an idiot."

"No, you aren't."

Jaune turned his head to see Pyrrha standing by the open door. She walked over and sat beside him, looking up at the stars.

"You are many things, Jaune, but not an idiot."

"You've seen me fight. You saw earlier, someone came into our _room_ for the journal. They didn't find it, so they'll try again." He heaved a sigh. "I shouldn't even be here."

At this, Pyrrha propped herself on an elbow and slugged his arm. "How can you say that? You were accepted into Beacon, so the professors must see potential in you to be a great Hunstman."

Her hand went to her collar, and began unbuttoning her uniform. "Look here, Jaune."

"Uh… Pyhrra?" His cheeks were burning as he looked away. Her serious voice demanded his obedience however.

" _Look._ "

He looked back at her, where she held the pendant around her neck out by the chain. Her voice was softer now, her emerald eyes meeting his. "You do remember how we got this and the journal, don't you?"

He nodded.

"We met something unknown, a potential danger. Something all Hunstmen and Huntresses are trained for years to deal with, but can never expect." Her eyes went to the locket, and she spun it gently, the three faces and the Arc family crest flashing by. "We found questions and answers that make no sense to us, and you wanted to look for more." A wistful smile came to her face as she looked back to him. "You may not be an idiot, but you are mistaken if you think you do not belong here, after years of combat school and how you've handled yourself thus far. You just require more time and training."

Jaune lay silent, his eyes back on the stars. When he didn't respond, she lay herself back down and watched them as well. Her own cheeks began to redden this time, as she thought of her real reason to find him.

"Jaune, I would be willing to train with you, if you'd like."

A cool night breeze passed over them both, and the leaves of nearby trees whispered. Jaune didn't answer.

"We could meet here a few nights a week, and I'm sure you'll see results."

A dark cloud passed directly overhead, obscuring the stars from the two. Jaune raised himself up and stood. When he spoke, it was monotone.

"Pyrrha, I had my transcript forged to get here. I never trained with my own dad, not to mention going to a combat school."

She pulled herself up, and was truly at a loss for words.

Even softer now, his every word saddened her. "If I hadn't been so selfish, you would have been partners with someone who knew what they were doing."

She called his name as he went inside. His eyes were burning, but he didn't want the attention a crying Huntsman in training would get. He just wanted to be alone.

Pyhrra could tell as much, so while she did stand after Jaune shut the door behind him, she didn't follow. She herself wasn't sure what to think.

Neither did the shadow, hidden on the other side of the roof's peak.

Pyhrra went to the balcony railing, and hung her head. When she had decided to talk with Jaune one on one, she had thought things would end on a much better note. A part of her even dared to think they could have had _a moment._ Now, she could only see her past thoughts as naive.

She fondled the locket distractedly. She had meant what she said, that he did belong here at Beacon. With their friends. With her.

But she was also disappointed in him. She felt betrayed. Lied to. And it hurt, like a hole in her heart.

What was she supposed to do?

* * *

Blake wasn't one to go looking for people to talk to. Even during her childhood, her friends had been the first to introduce themselves. It had taken quite an effort on their part to get her to come out of her shell.

So why was she currently approaching a clearly distressed Jaune Arc?

She had left her team dorm earlier that night and began testing the campus trees in an effort to find her own personal reading niche, since daylight would have brought more attention than she'd have liked. She did not relish the idea of anyone catching her uniquely feline way of stretching out on a tree limb.

Which is why she initially froze when she heard the slow cadence of depressed footsteps. Seeing Jaune come into view from the direction of the dorms, she watched from her perch as he headed towards the steep embankment separating Beacon from the Emerald Forest.

For a worrying moment, she had thought he would jump down, but he sat by the edge and looked out into the dark forest.

She had watched him for a few minutes until surrendering to her impulse. Blake knew it wasn't like her to do this, but Jaune was one of the few people outside her team she didn't have too much of a problem with. It wouldn't do for him to drag down their group with his issues.

Well, that was how she rationalized it.

She jumped down from the tree, making the effort to adjust her gait, letting her shoes rustle the grass noisily in advance of her presence. This went unappreciated, as Jaune didn't acknowledge her until she sat beside him, and only did so with a yelp and an attempt to push himself away from her. At least he stopped once he recognized her.

"Blake?! What are you doing out here?"

She shrugged. "Out for a walk."

"Oh… uh… me too."

She could see he was lying, but didn't press him on it. Everyone had secrets of their own, and it was up to them when to share.

She gave a small smile and stretched her arms to the ground behind her. Closing her eyes, she let the silence wash over her like the breeze wafting up from the forest.

They sat together for a while, before Jaune spoke up.

"I want to apologize."

"Hmm… for what?"

"I've made mistakes… mistakes I don't think I can make up for."

She turned her yellow eyes to meet his at this. Her gaze was curious, though not pressuring.

"I think I got us all in trouble. Life or death trouble." He reached into the jacket of his uniform, and pulled out the mysterious journal. "I think whoever broke into my team's dorm was after this."

"Why would you think that?"

Jaune gave her a disbelieving look. "Why else would someone break into a first year dorm, and make a mess without taking anything? This whole thing is weird enough for me to bet on it." He sighed as he returned the journal to its hiding place.

"Fair enough."

"And that's not all. I did something that ruined the future for everyone around me, all so I could follow my own dream."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Blake began slowly, "but I believe in second chances."

He laughed harshly. "What if your mistake stole someone else's first chance? What happens then?"

She went quiet, thinking of what he could mean by that.

"Maybe I should rephrase," she tucked her arms under her knees and hugged her legs against herself reassuringly. "I think people can't change their past. We can only do our best to make better choices from now on."

"How do you know what you're doing isn't another mistake?"

"You don't." Jaune raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know what he thought of that. The situation almost made her laugh, and he could see it in her soft yellow eyes. She couldn't restrain a pleasant smile however. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah…" He shut his eyes. "I have to do the best I can with what's happened."

She watched his face relax as some of his worries bled away. His hair even seemed lighter, shifting wildly with the occasional soft gust. His face looked so peaceful now.

She stood and wiped the grass from her uniform. "I'm going to sleep. You should too, if you don't want to sleep through Professor Port's class tomorrow."

"Yeah. Thanks, Blake."

He watched her gracefully walk a ways, before she turned back and gave him a mock glare. "If you tell anyone about tonight, I'll kill you."

He just smiled and waved, as she sighed and gave up on the effort.

* * *

When Jaune got back to the JNPR dorm, he was surprised and a little guilty to see that his team was up and waiting for him.

"Uh… hey guys."

"You're in troubl~le!" Nora crooned, and tackled him. He cried out in surprise as she expertly twisted his arms behind him in a hold.

"Look, guys, I know I screwed up, but-"

"Shut up."

Everyone looked at Ren with surprise, though Nora had more than a little pride and something primal in her eyes. She had Jaune on his knees now, and gripped his head back by the hair to meet Ren's eyes.

His gaze was hard, unflinching. Jaune tried to turn his head out of discomfort, only to have Nora twist it back.

"Jaune. I forgive you."

His surprise must have been all over his face, as Nora let him go. "Same here. We're not going to let you be anything else _but_ the best team leader at Beacon!"

Jaune caught himself before he fell on his face, and was glad for the seconds to compose himself. Not that it helped much. His eyes were already watering. He had to close them when Pyrrha's brown boots entered his view, waiting for her turn.

He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve such a team. He didn't deserve his partner. But he would do his best to do so.

Jaune wiped at his eyes, and stood straight before opening them. He met Pyhrra's enchanting green eyes, and gave her his attention.

"Jaune, I wasn't sure what to think when you told me about what you had done." She came closer, grabbing his shoulders. "Then I realized it didn't matter. If you hadn't done so, I would have never met you, and team JNPR would have never existed. That is unacceptable to me."

Her grip tightened. "I _will_ be helping you train. You will _not_ tell another soul about your transcripts." She paused, and Jaune could only nod.

"I forgive you, Jaune." Her grip released, only to envelop him in a tight embrace around his neck. He should have felt awkward, especially with Nora and Ren watching, but didn't. He hugged her back, and felt the warmth of his team's actions pour into him.

It was fortunate that he didn't notice the light from his scroll blinking until the next morning, as the header for the message waiting for him would have ruined the mood entirely.

 _Hey, Jauney-boy._


	6. Chapter 6

**Been a while! Sorry this has taken so long, but stuff gets in the way. I've had this chapter half done since October, but only now felt like I had time to add to it. I have good news and bad news.**

 **Good: I'm going to work much more on this starting around the end of April. And I'm probably going to start on a Fate/RWBY crossover.**

 **Bad: I'm probably not going to add to this one until April, and I'm a big liar. I had hoped to finish this one before starting another, but Fate/Grand Order and the two new Fate animes have been addicting so far, and I really need to watch V5 of RWBY now that it's done airing. Once AoT S3 starts airing in April I'll be excited and back on this.**

 **Sorry. :(**

 **PS: Just learned trying to format on my laptop is a no-go. Sorry I had to reupload this.**

* * *

Jaune wasn't a morning person on his best days. His team had learned that awaking him before the bathroom was clear would be futile, as he would simply go back to bed. Usually, Pyhrra would volunteer to gently rustle him awake and guide him to the bathroom door. On the days that even Pyhrra failed, the duties fell to Nora. This had only happened once.

But today was completely unexpected. It was never was supposed to happen. It couldn't be.

Jaune was the first one up.

After a few glances at the sleeping faces of his comrades, he checked the time on his scroll. _We aren't that late._ He scratched at the muss on his head. _Huh, funny._

Seeing he received a message last night, he opened it as he grabbed the uniform of the day and started his morning routine.

()()()()()

 _Hey, Jauney-boy._

 _Sorry to send this so late, but I wanted to talk with you about a great opportunity for the both of us! I happened to overhear you and Pyhrra talking earlier, as I was minding my own business… and thought I could help out with your problem. Come by the dorm sometime tomorrow and we can talk things out. Oh, and don't bother your friends with this. I don't think they like me very much._

 _Your new friend,_

 _Cardin Winchester_

()()()()()

Setting the scroll on the drawers just outside the bathroom doors, his mind didn't let the message sink in for a while. While there was initial confusion about the message, Jaune was more surprised by how warm the shower could get. _I might want to start getting up before everyone else more often._

Chuckling at the futility of the thought, he didn't think of the message again until done scrubbing, drying, and outfitting. It was only then, as he opened the bathroom door, that he was confronted with reality. Reality which took the form of a short redhead already charged and sparking with energy for the day.

"JAUNE! You need to go see Cardin! I didn't know you already made friends with him! Well, not as good as friends as _we_ are. I don't know what you did, but I'm glad to see Cardin change his mind about how he's been treating you! He's been kinda mean lately."

* * *

At breakfast, Team JNPR was missing in action. Ruby couldn't help but notice, though the rest of her team had other things on their mind.

"Hells yeah, the Achiev-men are going to be in Vale for the Vytal Festival!"

"Really, _that's_ what you're excited about?"

"What else even comes close?" Yang closed her scroll as she turned her full attention to the morning meal.

" _Fighting in the Vytal Festival,_ for one, you doofus."

"Huh. I guess that could count."

Weiss' frustration caused her to pause as she gently raised her fork to her lips. Only momentarily, as she decided to hold her anger for a better time to vent. Besides, she had important news.

"My sister's coming."

Blake and Yang raised their eyebrows at that, one more suggestively than the other.

"... Stop that. To the Vytal festival."

"Oh, she's coming to watch us fight!?" Ruby grinned as she leaned excitedly towards her partner.

Weiss nervously glanced anywhere else but those silver eyes as she answered.

"Well, uh, she's kind of coming to help patrol the festival, but I'm sure she'll see… sometime."

"Of course she will! They'll have cameras on us, she'll have to see."

Weiss let out a smile at this. "We really need to ramp up our training soon, however. Now's the time if we're going to see meaningful results."

"I agree." Blake spoke her first intelligible words of the morning. The others weren't sure why, and didn't get an answer, for why she slept in later than usual that morning.

"Like I'd turn down the chance to hit things." Yang sighed dreamily and tapped her fist on the table. Her plate was now empty, and she was glancing at the other plates nearby.

"We could practice team fights with Team JNPR! Also, did they just miss breakfast?"

The school's bell chimed softly, punctuating her point.

"Huh." Yang began pilfering what was left from Blake's plate, getting an indignant stare and what sounded like a deep-throated growl in return. "Well, I guess I can share something in class with them."

* * *

Jaune was splayed out, face down on the floor. Once Nora had brought it home that Cardin knew his most damaging secret, that he had only shared with his partner and team the day before, he didn't feel like moving at all. What was the point?

Ren was the last to read the message, and his sigh as he set the scroll down told Jaune enough about his thoughts on the matter.

"This could be… bad."

"Very bad," mumbled Pyrrha. " _Very_ bad."

Fresh from the shower herself, Ren could almost see the literal and metaphorical steam rising from her skin. He and Nora had thought she would calm a little after some time alone, but she was still patently angered by the message to Jaune. Her first words after reading it had been to ask Nora if she felt like breaking some knees.

After Ren had convinced Nora otherwise, he barely had time to read it himself before Pyrrha returned from the shower. He already had an idea of their next step in keeping Jaune at Beacon, though he was hesitant to bring it up while Pyhrra was so unusually agitated. After all, he had no idea what their following step would be if it failed. If only they had more time.

 _Even more of a reason to broach the subject now._

"Before we do anything, we need to confirm the situation." When all eyes were on him, even an upturned pair from the floor, he explained his plan.

* * *

JNPR had barely flung themselves into seats when Goodwitch opened the doors herself and began her way to the front of the class. Cardin made sure to catch Jaune's eye and give him an overly friendly wave, to the snickers of his teammates.

"I have unfortunate news, class." She turned to face the rows of desks, straightening her glasses. "The trip to Forever Fall is cancelled."

This new development caused the class to erupt in loud, surprised mumbles. More than one hand shot up, though Goodwitch waved them, as well as the noise level, down with a smooth downward wave.

"I know this is unusual," she continued, "but due to the recent dust shortage in Vale, the council has had to exceed its previously established budget on preparations for the Vytal Festival. This has lead them to make a request of Beacon."

Suddenly, the negativity in the room cleared, replaced with curiosity.

"We have been asked to volunteer students for assistance with the preparations. The Headmaster and I have agreed to do so."

With a minute flick of her ever-present riding crop, a projection appeared above and behind her. A list of missions and their descriptions assembled there, word by word.

"We realize that this may not be as enjoyable to some of you as the trip to Forever Fall, but as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, we felt that this would better prepare you for the future. After all," She waved the crop again, and the information disappeared. Various scrolls began chirping from their student's pockets. "Not every mission you face can be solved with battle prowess. The mission list provided to you now has been created and organized for individuals, partners, and teams to complete. Everyone will be expected to have participated in and to have completed at least one mission from every tier."

Pushing up her glasses, Goodwitch gave a short sigh. "... And in recognition of how the cancellation of the Forever Fall trip may have disappointed many of you, the Headmaster has decided that students should be given an ample amount of time to select their missions, so classes are dismissed for the day."

Ruby had her scroll out before the information had finished uploading to it, and was scrolling through the mission list as soon as Goodwitch stopped speaking.

"Hmm… Let's see… Dust transportation... stall organization… lumber acquisition? The mission is just chopping down trees?" As she read through more, her posture slid lower and lower down her seat. "Where are the real missions?!"

Blake stretched her arms as she looked over at the scroll. "'Not every mission can be solved by battle prowess', remember?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to solve _some_ with it!"

Weiss was searching through her scroll's list as well, making note of a few. "Don't whine. We need to decide our missions soon, before they're decided for us."

"Eh, we've got the rest of the day." Squeaked out as Ruby stretched her arms behind her head.

Yang nodded sagely. "Due tomorrow, do tomorrow."

"You two are _hopeless._ " Weiss put her scroll away with a huff. "Ruby, at least look at the team missions before tonight, you should decide that since you are the leader." Hearing Ruby's whine start, she cut her off. "If you do that, I'll pick our partner mission. Though really you should be doing that anyway."

Blake stood, her scroll in hand. "I'm headed to Vale. Apparently setting up posters for the festival counts as a mission."

"Pfft, sounds boring. Watch out for those deadly papercuts, partner!" Yang waved as Blake walked off. "Might as well see if JNPR are interested in that team practice." Looking around, she scratched her head. "Hmm. Guess we'll chat later."

* * *

"Jaune, you have to do this."

The young man in question sighed. "I know."

"Just act like you normally do and they won't suspect anything." Ren finished fiddling with Jaune's scroll, snapping the case back together with a satisfying click. "It'll start recording once you pat the screen hard once. Once they've confirmed that they are attempting to blackmail you, you can tap it again twice to have it stop. Tap once and hold if you need help."

"Ok. Thanks, Ren."

He shrugged. "Teammates look out for each other." Standing from his seat at the desk, he handed Juane his scroll.

Juane grabbed the scroll, but didn't put it away just yet. "I mean it, man. Thank you."

He and Ren held each other's stare for a few heartbeats before Ren nodded.

A very conspicuous, exaggerated cough from the other side of the room broke the scene.

"Ren~ny-poo, should we be jealous?"

Nora and Pyrrha stood watching the boys, Pyrrha with a light dusting of pink on her cheeks.

"You have nothing to be jealous about." Ren's deadpan delivery of the double entendre earned him a constricting hug as Nora launched herself at him.

"Jaune…"

Pyrrha got his attention and gave him a hug of her own. "You can do this. You will succeed."

He felt the warmth of her aura mix with his own, and he returned the hug. "No matter what happens, I've had a great time with you guys. You'll always be my friends." Disentangling himself from his partner, he stared at the door out of the room.

"We're down the hall, we can be there in seconds."

Jaune nodded, and his hesitation evaporated.

"I'll be right back."

As he left, he made sure to get one last look of his team as they watched him close the door behind him.

CRDL's dorm room really was just down the hall, but it sure didn't feel like it.

Every step seemed to take an eternity, but all too soon he was halfway down the hallway.

That was when his scroll buzzed.

With a mix of dread and relief at the distraction, he pulled it out of his pocket.

()()()()()()()

 _Jaune,_

 _I'm waiting behind the dorms, by the forest line. Come now._

 _Cardin Winchester_

()()()()()()()

Ugh.

This message made it all too real to Jaune. Nauseas, he turned around and headed to meet his fate, whatever it turned out to be.

If he hadn't been so nervous and worried, he might have noticed the shadow that peeked from out of an empty room, following his movements with cold eyes. Once he turned the corner, it pocketed the scroll it had held, and began following.

* * *

Blake enjoyed walking the town by herself. While she had done so many times while waiting for Beacon to begin its school year, this time was different. With Vytal preparations beginning, there was an excited undercurrent sweeping the city. While not obvious, it could be noticed in how the people interacted with each other. A smile here or there, unusual chattiness between strangers. Arguments between both children and adults over who would win in the upcoming duels. It was a nice change.

 _It's all a lie._

She shook her head with a twitch. Sometimes she would forget how these people's ancestors had treated her own. The atrocities committed, the oppression that continued for generations. The looks and snide comments even seen in the most progressive of crowds. It was too easy to forget that when seeing a child smile up at her.

 _You have a mission._

She looked up, examining the faces of the buildings around her. Where she judged to be a highly visible or visited spot, she marked with a tag on a Vale map downloaded to her scroll. Notifications popped onto her screen about more and more messages from her team, but she ignored them. Sometimes she just needed to be alone and throw herself into a task. Before she knew it, it was late afternoon. And she still had one last stop to make.

Her feet moved with the pace of her thoughts, and before she realized it, she was outside her destination. A sign outside the door read _Tukson's Book Trade_.

Opening the door with a chime, she made her way through the empty store to the checkout counter. Tukson himself wasn't there, though she could hear him making his way from the back room.

"Ah, it's you."

The large Faunus didn't sound particularly surprised, whatever he said. "Anything I can help you with?"

Blake didn't answer with words, instead retrieving a small item from her back satchel.

A dusty, worn out journal.

She set it onto the counter, but the weight it held over her conscious didn't leave her.

Tukson eyed it and the girl before him curiously, before sliding the journal closer to himself and opening it.

Upon recognizing the letters, he hissed and slammed it shut.

"Where the _hell_ did you get this?"

"It was found."

"By you?" He was sternly staring at her now, as she kept her gaze on the journal with an indescribable expression.

"No, but-"

He slammed his hand into the wood he leaned on, claws slicing deep fissures into the previously smooth, well-cared for countertop.

"-but it's been taken care of. No one who could read it even knows it exists. No copies were made."

Tukson's claws slowly retracted, and his demeanor relaxed slightly.

"Good."

This time when he picked it up, he managed to make it seem heavier than it was. Importance, destiny, history… whatever quality it held was powerful over them both. "I'll share this with those that would be interested in it. You'll be well rewarded."

Blake shook her head. "I don't need anything right now. Just let me know if anything important comes of it."

Tukson nodded, and watched the girl turn and walk away. Now that he knew what she had carried here, he could see how it weighed on her.

"Wait."

She had opened the door, but now stopped before her first step.

"Remember, everything we do is for the mission. For home. For our people. For family."

She nodded solemnly, and left Tukson's Book Trade.

* * *

This was worse than expected.

When Jaune hadn't returned or messaged in an hour, NPR went into action. Pyrrha had nearly blown Team CRDL's door off its hinges when their leader initially refused to let them inside. It was only when he saw the Mistrali warrior's fierce, serious, and downright frightening expression that Cardin tried to drop his usual air of maligned humor. Not that Pyrrha was about to believe them.

"We _know_ Jaune was coming to your room." She hissed between clenched teeth. "We were there when he left ours to do so."

"Look, Pyrrha, I don't know what to say. Yeah, I did ask him to come talk sometime today, but he never showed and we hadn't heard anything about him even on his way." Cardin shrugged. "Maybe he got lost?"

Well, he had tried.

Cardin landed on his ass, and his team didn't have time to do much more than stare.

Before Pyrrha could do something more than the shove, he raised his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, habit."

Nora put a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and pulled her aside, as Ren took her spot addressing team CRDL, once Cardin was back on his feet.

"We know what you wanted to talk to him about." he said softly, coldly. "It was a fairly distressing issue to him. Who knows what someone thinking their life was about to be ruined could do."

Cardin squinched his eyes at the usually wordless Ren. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ren's pink irises had never seemed more serious.

"What I mean, is that Jaune is currently missing. He was worried about being blackmailed by you and expelled by Beacon. If he…" Ren stopped briefly, though his tone didn't waver. "If he has done something that can't be fixed, none of you will be here long."

Cardin could feel his stomach descend into the depths of Remnant.

"We- We never meant… It's not…" He tried to get out something resembling words. The rest of his team looked as shocked as he did.

He didn't know what to do, but he knew what to say.

"We'll help look for him."

* * *

One stop by the RWBY dorms, and their search party had increased to ten.

"Blake's not answering." Yang said quickly as they all rushed to the central courtyard.

"It's fine, we can divide up the school grounds enough between us all." Ren was examining a map of Beacon and its property, circling different areas and sending them to each of the group's scrolls. As they received them, they left to look for the missing Jaune.

It was Ruby who found him, of course. Her speed semblance helped her make short work of her assigned area, and go on to help the others. With that and her piercing yell, she was confident Jaune would be before her soon.

Yang was searching the dorms when Ruby found Jaune. Her own heart broke when she heard her younger sister cry out and sob Jaune's name. Jumping out of a nearby open window, she arrived not long after Ruby had.

Ruby Rose held him tightly with both arms, underneath one of the trees outlining the nearby forest. His blood marked a trail from where it was first freed from his body, a small pool of it told Yang where he started his long crawl to the tree.

 _Examine later, help now._

Yang ran to them, her scroll already out and pinging the search group and emergency medical services. Kneeling beside them, she had to address Ruby first.

"Let go."

Ruby didn't hear her over her own cries, but Yang managed to pry her hands from their friend's body. Looking him over without moving him as much as possible, she knew she wouldn't have trouble remembering this later. It would haunt her.

 _I'll remember this the rest of my life._

A deep stab wound pierced his right side, angled upward from below the ribs. She wasn't a medical professional, but she wouldn't be surprised if it had pierced the lung. His face was pale, ghostly. Searching for his pulse, she felt the coolness of his skin chill her bones.

But she still found it.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm not dead yet, and neither is this story. Life happens. Not as long as the usual chapters, but hey.**

* * *

 _How could this happen? Beacon, of all places?_

It was on everyone's mind as they heard of the tragedy.

A young student, stabbed and left to bleed out on the grounds of Beacon Academy?

It was shocking enough to those who didn't know the victim personally. Those that did obsessed even more on the question of why.

The combined group of huntsman and huntresses in training were waiting in JNPR's dorm room for news of Jaune's condition. Yang was sitting next to her sister, who had long ago exhausted her supply of tears, and was asleep on her shoulder.

Ren and Norra were by Pyrrha's side, sitting on a nearby bed, and they seemed to be too busy convincing Pyrrha to stay still to process their friend's grievous injury themselves.

Pyrrha had initially followed Ozpin's instructions to go wait while Jaune was sent to a higher class medical facility in Vale. Something in the headmaster's demeanor had demanded obedience at the time, but as the minutes turned to hours, Pyrrha's hope was turning to anger. Not towards her friends, or even the lack of communication about Jaune.

"I should have been there. I should be there-"

"Pyrrha…" Ren had one hand on one of her shoulders, Nora's on the other. They hadn't moved them since she tried to convince them to leave with her.

"Jaune's gonna be fiiine." Nora interrupted. "You know how strong his aura is. That and whatever the doctors can do will have him up and back in no time!"

Ren nodded, but Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm sure you're right, but I meant-"

A trio of solid knocks on the door turned everyone's heads.

A few seconds later, Ren was the only one to move to answer it. The door opened to reveal...

They didn't know what to expect, but this wasn't it.

Cardin and his team stood in the doorway, looking uncharacteristically serious. The leader himself spoke first, after a tactical throat clear broke the suddenly tense silence. "I know you all probably don't want to see us at the moment... but we wanted to check if you had any news about Jaune."

Pyrrha, as a testament to her restraint, waited until the end of his sentence to stand and stomp her way to her teammate's bully, tossing Nora to one side with a playful yelp.

While Cardin's team backed further into the dorm's hallway to avoid the charge, Cardin remained in place, steadfast or stubborn, not even he knew.

"What gives you the gall to come here, _now_ , worried about Jaune?" She growled. While her hands had clenched to fists, she did not move them from her side.

Cardin didn't meet her glare, but his posture remained rigid. On some level he thought it might melt him from the sheer hatred he felt from her voice alone.

"I know we- _I_ have been a little hard on Jaune." He started, looking back at his team briefly. "It was my decision to mess with him. But I don't want him dead."

Ren spoke up this time. "A little hard? You launched him out of the building using a weapon locker."

One of Cardin's team had no more started a chuckle from the hallway that he had realized he screwed up, and looked down apologetically under a wilting combined glare from those around him.

"If it doesn't set off dust, it can't-" Cardin started, before giving up on his explanation. "I mean, yeah, I did that. I guess I really didn't think this through." He looked back at his team and sighed. "Just… ah… We hope he's gonna be ok."

He had no more started his turn to leave that Pyrrha grabbed him by the armor plate and physically lifted him a few inches into the air.

"Not yet." While the anger wasn't as pronounced now, the edge in her voice was enough of a clue, even ignoring her grip on Cardin. "I want to know why."

Cardin's demeanor still hadn't cracked, but the nervousness bled through his response. "I already said we didn't do-"

"Not that." He was lifted slightly higher. "I want to know why you picked on Jaune so much. I want to hear you say it."

Pyrrha's eyes were starting to water, as her voice wavered.

"I want to know why you are so cruel to those weaker than you."

Cardin finally looked her in the eyes, and she watched them harden.

"You have no idea?"

"No."

He looked from face to face at those in the room. "None of you have any idea?"

He gave a long, forced laugh at their confused looks before breaking Pyrrha's grasp on him. " _What_ are we?! _Where_ are we!?" He swung his arm wildly, gesturing at them all. "We are future huntsmen! We are at the best academy in all of Vale! TO BECOME THE FUTURE DEFENDERS AGAINST GRIMM!"

He was shouting by now, and a few passerby were stopping to stare from the hallway.

"YOU THINK I DID ALL OF THAT JUST BECAUSE I'M AN ASSHOLE!?"

His face was reddening, and his team shot each other worried looks.

"HUNTSMEN DIE DOING THEIR JOBS! THE VERY BEST STILL DIE!"

He focused on Pyrrha, pointing an accusatory finger at her, his voice lowering but keeping its intensity.

"You and I both know he doesn't belong here. If you really cared for his life, you would have convinced him to leave."

With that, Cardin left and slammed the door shut.

Pyyrha was already crouched on the floor, her face in her hands.

* * *

Not as far away as expected, Ozpin watched the surgeons perform their work. The boy's wound was from a single, deep stab from below the rib cage. A single, long blade was the culprit. Not the usual weapon of an assassin. _A message? What was it?_

"Hey."

Ozpin returned to the surgery room from his thoughts. Qrow was now beside him.

"I thought you might have left for good this time."

The unshaven rogue waved his hand to dismiss the thought. "You always say that."

Ozpin nodded, his eyes still on the shifting group of medical personnel.

"What happened to the kid?"

"He was attacked near the forest. One thrust, angled upward through a lung. He was almost gone when a student found him."

They watched as the surgeons' tensions drained, and urgency evaporated. A single white coat split from the mass and exited the room, going to Ozpin.

"He's stable, but drained. It will take time for his body to heal. His aura managed to staunch enough of his blood to prevent permanent damage to the brain, but we're unsure when he'll awaken."

The surgeon and Ozpin gave a small nod to each other before the white coat returned to the mass in the operating room.

"Why now, why some kid?" Qrow looked to Ozpin. "Is this some kind of threat? 'We can do whatever we want' sort of thing?'"

The grey haired man shook his head. "No, I'm worried it's much more." He walked closer to the window separating the two rooms. Tapping it twice with the handle of his cane, the surgeons finished their cleaning quickly and left the room. "This boy is the one who found the Titan shelter."

Qrow looked at the now unobstructed view of Jaune carefully as Ozpin continued. "I just can't see why. Unless the boy saw something he shouldn't have, and was seen in turn."

Sighing, Qrow put his hands behind his head.

"But why would they just leave him there if they wanted him dead?"

Ozpin nodded at the point. "Unless that wasn't what they were after, after all."

"I hate to say it, but what if the kid took something from the shelter?"

Ozpin turned and looked at Qrow. "He told me that he had not."

A sarcastic shrug. "Kids always tell the truth, my bad, I forgot."

"Do you know what you are saying?"

"I have an idea, yeah."

Ozpin started walking out of the facility, Qrow behind him. "Now we truly need him to awake as soon as possible. We need to know what it was we've lost to our enemies."

"Well at least he'll be fine here."

They entered the last room of the facility, and stopped in front of the only occupant to watch her briefly and silently before continuing to the elevator.


End file.
